A Spark of Magic

by Robsa990

Disturbance

I awake from a light slumber. The cabin is dark with only the moonlight shining through the windows and revealing the snoozing ponies in their beds. I try to get back to sleep and get as much rest as I can before we arrive. I start to feel cold, and I notice an open window to my left. I get out of bed, walk over to the window, and shut it. I slip back into my bed and sleep comes quicker this time. I awake again, as I hear a thump. I sit up as another thump follows, louder this time. They seem to be coming from…the roof? The noises wake Twilight up as she sits up in her bed below Rarity, who is still asleep with her sleeping mask on. I turn to Twilight as we hear another noise.

“Twilight, do you hear that?” I ask her. “It sounds like somepony or something is up on top of the train.” We both scramble out of bed.

“Maybe we should wake everypony up and see what’s going on,” says Twilight. I agree as I look down the cabin at the rest of Twilight’s friends. Twilight proceeds to try to wake Rarity up while I make my way across to where Applejack and Pinkie Pie are situated.

“Applejack, Pinkie Pie, you’ve got to wake up,” I say in a half-whisper. They both toss and turn until Applejack opens her eyes.

“What is it, Silver?” Applejack asks.

“I’ll explain later, wake up Pinkie Pie for me while I wake up Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.” Applejack, who’s on the bottom bunk, prods the mattress beneath Pinkie Pie. I glance back to where Twilight is and see that she’s having a hard time waking Rarity up. I proceed towards the bottom bunk of Fluttershy who’s already starting to wake up. “Fluttershy, are you awake?” I ask in a soft light whisper. Opening her eyes, she looks up at me and squeaks, clearly startled. “It’s ok, it’s just me” I reassure her.

“Oh, goodness, you startled me” she replies. “What’s wrong, Silver?”

“I need you to fly up top to wake up Rainbow Dash; I’ll explain when we’re all awake.” As I walk over to Twilight, who’s still trying to wake up Rarity, Fluttershy walks up behind me and taps me on the shoulder.

“Um….Rainbow Dash is missing,” she says in her quiet voice.

“What!?” the rest of us say in unison. I light up my horn with an illumination spell and light up the area where Rainbow Dash was supposed to be sleeping. Sure enough, she wasn’t there. Suddenly, another thump sounds from the roof. At that moment Rarity finally wakes up.

“What’s so important that you just had to ruin my beauty sleep?” Rarity snaps.

“First of all, Twilight and I started hearing noises coming from the roof of the train, and second, we just found out Rainbow Dash is missing” I say to everypony. “The noises on the roof must be Rainbow; I’ll go check it out”

I position myself away from the group and start to cast a minor teleportation spell when Twilight trots towards me.

“I’m going with you” she says. In a flash of light we are both on top of the train. I immediately see Rainbow Dash feigning a fighting stance but she isn’t facing us.

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight calls out. Rainbow Dash quickly spins around and charges for Twilight. Twilight flinches and gasps in surprise. Reacting quickly, I target Rainbow’s tail with a hold spell and she stops inches away from hitting Twilight. We both look at Rainbow Dash, but the thing that caught my eye was that her eyes were a tint of green and slightly serpentine looking. Then out of the corner of my eye I see another Rainbow Dash climbing up on the roof.

“Silver! Twilight! Th-that thing….it’s a changeling!” yells Rainbow Dash. Still holding the changeling with my spell, Twilight’s horn lights up and she blasts it with a purple beam, transforming it back into its original self. Twilight and I gasp at the presence of the changeling.

“What is a changeling doing all the way out here?” I ask Twilight.

“It’s a spy for Queen Chrysalis. She knows we’re coming!” she replies. “We have to dispose of it”. I cancel my hold spell on its tail as Twilight levitates it up with her magic.

“Twilight, wait!” yells Rainbow Dash flying towards us. Rainbow flies in a corkscrew motion and she executes a swift, hard kick to the changeling’s chest, causing it to let out a sharp shriek of pain.

“That’s for messing with me,” she says to the changeling. Twilight then levitates it over the edge of the moving train, dropping the changeling with her magic. A sickening crunch is heard as it hits the railway and then gets caught under the train’s wheels for the killing blow. I look back over the railway and spot a small pile of ash marking the end of the changeling.

“Let’s get back inside,” I say. Rainbow and Twilight both nod and grab hold of me as I cast my teleportation spell.

Now back inside of the train, everypony else gathers around us.“Are you three ok? What happened?” Fluttershy asks.

“We’re all fine Fluttershy except for the changeling,” I say.

“Changelings? I hate them! They can’t make me look right” retorts Pinkie Pie.

“Hold up now. There was a changeling up there? But we’re not even close to Canterlot yet,” says a surprised Applejack.

“I know, but my best guess is that changeling was a spy for Chrysalis,” Twilight says.

“Rainbow Dash, why were you trying to fight that thing on your own?” I ask her.

*Thirty minutes earlier*

The moon is still high in the sky as Rainbow Dash lies awake in her bed staring up at the ceiling. She rolls over to her side to stare out the window. Suddenly, a dark shadow rushes past the window making her gasp in surprise. She leans back from the window as the shadow rushes past again. She turns her head to look through the dull light of the cabin. Everypony else is still asleep. She quietly gets out from under the covers and makes her way down the bunk bed, being careful not to wake anypony. She walks over to a bigger window, unlatches it, and pushes it open quickly, making a gap big enough for her to fit through. Flying out of the window, she makes her way to the top of the train. Once on top, she starts looking around the landscape for the ‘shadow’ she’d seen earlier. A thump sounds as something lands behind her on the train. She turns around to see Fluttershy with a smile on her face.

“Fluttershy? What are you doing up here?” Rainbow says as she walks up to ‘Fluttershy’. ‘Fluttershy’ steps forward and advances on Rainbow Dash, her smile changing to a toothy sneer. Rainbow starts to back up “F-Fluttershy?” ‘Fluttershy’ leaps into the air, diving towards Rainbow Dash. Rainbow swiftly moves to the side as ‘Fluttershy’ hits the roof with a thud. “What’s gotten into you Fluttersh-“Rainbow is cut off as ‘Fluttershy’ transforms in front of her. In a swirl of green flames ‘Fluttershy’ is now ‘Rainbow Dash’. “A changeling!?” she exclaims as she feigns a fighting stance. She charges towards her doppelganger, it does the same. Rainbow attempts a swift uppercut, but her copy dodges and counterattacks, connecting a fast punch to Rainbow’s right wing. Rainbow gets knocked off balance and tumbles towards the edge of the train. The moving train only makes it harder to keep her from falling off as well as her temporarily disabled wing. Rainbow regains her balance and stands up. She knows she is near the edge and must keep herself from falling, but before she could react, her doppelganger rams into her which sends her sliding across the roof and off the edge. Luckily, her left hoof grabs onto a pole which is connected to the guard rails on the back of the train. She grabs the pole with her right hoof, strengthening her grip. She pulls herself back up to the edge of the roof when she spots Silver and Twilight. Silver has a magical hold on its tail as the changeling is thrashing about. Rainbow pulls herself back up onto the roof “Silver! Twilight! Th-that thing, it’s a changeling!” she shouts to them.

*The Present*

“I’m sorry, guys. I should’ve woken you all up before investigating, but I was bored, you know? I was so anxious in reaching Canterlot,” Rainbow says.

“You mentioned your injured wing. Is it alright?” asks Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash looks down towards her right wing, flares it up and folds it down again.

“Its fine; thanks for asking,” she says. Thinking back to the changeling encounter, I realise that we can tell changelings apart from the real thing by looking into their eyes in dark places; they will always appear to have slight serpentine eyes with a light green glow.

“Twilight, did you see the eyes of that changeling when it was in the form of Rainbow Dash?” I ask her.
“Yes, they were strange,” she replies.

“It’s a physical key difference in telling apart changelings from the real thing,” I say proudly.

“You might be on ta somethin’ there, Silver” says Applejack. Rarity starts walking back towards her bed.

“In the meantime, why don’t we all get some rest before we arrive in a couple of hours” suggests Rarity as she climbs into bed and puts her sleeping mask back on. We all agree and climb back into our respective beds. I lie down and stare up at the mattress above me.

“We haven’t even arrived at Canterlot yet and we’ve already encountered a changeling. The positive side is the fact that I’ve discovered a key difference that will aid us in the long run”. I close my eyes and fall asleep.

Hours later, I awake to the sound of the train screeching to a halt at the Canterlot train station. I look out of the window to see that it’s still dark; I spot a Canterlot clock tower in the distance. It reads ‘3:30.’ Everypony starts waking up as the cabin door slides open, and I see two royal guards enter. Their eyes are showing a glow of green in the dull light.

Comments

[Sean Retro]

It's going to be a long day for Silver.

[DeadSpaceLuna]

Ooooooo. Interesting.

[Arron_Starchanger]

a great chapter cant wait for the next one.

[QTXAdsy]

After reading this story so far, I like it!

The only thing though I will say is that the pacing is a little too quick, though I can say that I have seen improvement as the story has gone on.

[hadi]

wend is the next chapter